Govt must speed up reforms to spur growth: Survey

The Dollar Business Bureau

Indian government needs to intensify its action on trade reforms to encourage the business environment in the country, said a survey by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Associations’ Council (ASCON).

The government must lay further stress on improving the factors related to ease of doing business. It should focus on cutting down the presently enormous transaction costs through the use of efficient processes. A conducive taxation environment must also be introduced to help the country to integrate into the international supply chains, as per the CII ASCON Survey ‘Economic Recovery on Track’.

According to the survey, along with these measures, sustaining the reforms agenda will give better confidence to global investors in matters related to policy. The government should focus particularly on the market oriented reforms like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Amendment Bill.

Shobana Kamineni, President Designate and Chairperson of CII ASCON said that the speed of economic activity is still uneven in various sectors. An upward trend has been seen in many sectors due to positive sentiments about the revival of the economy.

“In the next few quarters, the growth momentum may continue to rise. As the government is focusing to revive demand, there could be a strong recovery in the coming years,” she said.

The CII ASCON survey tracks economic growth across various sectors on a quarterly basis. It is purely based on the responses received from the industry bodies.

Among the 102 sectors surveyed, 46 sectors still remained at moderate growth rates (0-10%). Excellent (above 20%) and high (10-20%) growth rates are seen in ten sectors and 21 sectors respectively. However, 31 sectors have recorded low growth (below 0%).

According to the survey, lack of proper demand in the country, increased burden of tax, cost of finance, availability of funds and competition from cheaper imports are some of the issues that impact the economic growth of the country.